Midnighters 4, A New Generation
by The One Whoo
Summary: Beware of Spoilers! This story takes place after Dess, Jess, Jonathan and Melissa left Bixby on their quest to find new Midnighters. Little do they know that this journey will reveal midnight's greatest secret... Note: was not meant to be a horror story.
1. Chapter 1

Midnighters 4, The Next Generation

Dess whooped a loud war howl and swung the steel chain around and around above her. Its name was Hyphenated-13. It was kind of cheating, but it worked great.

Clang! ZAP! Steel collided with darkling flesh. Red, angry sparks flew everywhere.

Melissa charged up with a long steel pole in her hands. She used it like a lance, stabbing and spearing every dark creature in sight.

Jonathan and Jess were hanging back, every once in a while taking a swipe at a stray spider or jaguar.

Let me explain this.

Darklings are old spirits that only live one hour a day. This hour is between 11:59PM and 12:00AM, so they call it the midnight hour. It's invisible to normal humans, but to those who were born exactly at that moment in time, it is a whole extra hour every day.

Still with me?

They call themselves midnighters. They are free to roam the frozen, blue, midnight world, with their interesting capabilities. For example, Jonathan is an acrobat. In the midnight hour, gravity means basically nothing to him, and anyone he's touching.

Jess is a flame-bringer. Usually, electric things don't work in the midnight hour, such as cars and flashlights. But Jess can bring them to life and use them as weapons against darklings, which hate white light.

The darklings sometimes attack, and new steel with 13 letter names, or Jess' light, can hurt or even kill them.

Now, let me tell you about their midnighter history.

Humans, long ago, shoved darklings into one hour of the day, and isolated them. Darklings are dangerous beasts. It was that everyone knew, once. But now, only the midnighters know the truth.

This group came from Bixby, a town that sat perfectly on 36, 42; both numbers being divisible by 12, a darkling number. So it stands to reason that it is one of the places in the world where 'blue time' happens.

Because, as soon as you leave Bixby, you enter the real world again.

Let me tell you one more thing. Jess, due to an explosion and lightning, is stuck in the midnighter hour as well as the darklings. She's been following the group across the country as well as she can, but it's been a major setback.

See, after Dess discovered that there were coordinates to this sort of thing, the group decided to go look for other midnighters. There were too many memories in Bixby. Rex, a part of the group known as a 'Seer', stayed behind.

And here they go; to discover a secret much bigger than any they had ever known before.


	2. Chapter 2

The midnighters were up at the Canadian border, just outside of a mountain town called Alleol. They had been there for almost a week, but had seen nothing but darklings at the midnight hour.

Dess whipped out Geostationary and calculated their coordinates.

"108 degrees West, 48 degrees North," she reported. "We can cross this off our list."

The list was fairly short:

108,12 In ocean, off of Mexico

108,24 Very tip of Baja Cali.

108,36 Arizona, Desert

108,48 Near border of US and Canada

108,72 Very tip-top of Canada

96, 72 Very tip-top of Canada

96, 48 Minnesota

96, 36 Bixby

96, 24 Gulf of Mexico, just off Mexico -East

96, 12 Pacific Ocean, South of Mexico

72, 12 Tip of South America

72, 24 Atlantic/Carribean? Off the islands (east)

72, 36 off East Coast

72, 48 Canada, near Lake Saint Jean

72, 72 On coast of an Island, near Greenland

48, 36 Middle of Atlantic

Many were in the water someplace, and others were very far away. But Dess was very determined to check out her theory, which had mainly been true. Jonathan wanted to find fellow midnighters, and Jess just wanted to hang out with someone, because the midnight hour could be very lonely sometimes. And no one really knew why Melissa was going…

"We're never going to find anything," Jonathan moaned on the way back to the truck.

"Oh, stop whining," Melissa said, hopping into the driver's seat and slamming the teal-green door.

Jess nodded. "Out of every place we've written down, there's got to be at least one other midnighter."

"What if they were all killed by darklings?" Jonathan asked somberly as he jumped into the back. "Anyone ever think of that?"

Nobody answered, because nobody really wanted to.

Dess and Melissa switched, and Dess drove for the next night.

Driving one hour every day didn't make much headway against the miles they had to drive to Minnesota, unless they were driving at 150 mph. Jonathan suggested it, as he held Jess' hand, but Melissa and Dess both refused adamantly.

"It's okay, guys," Jess said. "Leave me behind with a list of the places, and I'll catch up."

Of course, they needed Jess to drive at midnight.

"No! I'm not going to leave you behind." Jonathan kissed her furiously, and then looked away. He felt so guilty about even thinking about her offer.

Melissa looked back, and frowned. She'd already been frowning, but Jonathan could tell it had deepened.

"Stinkin' mindcaster," Jonathan whispered into Jess' hair. She was sleeping now. She rarely got any rest, and it pained Jonathan every time she did. He only had so much time with her. She would still be so young while he grew old.

He was envious of her, in a way, but also hated the way she was trapped. Trapped forever.

* * *

Sam shouted and ran. He could still feel its presence behind him, closing in.

There was a water tower. It was being remodeled since it was on the verge of collapse. The shiny new steel on the outside reflected the moon.

Sam jumped, and didn't realize how high that jump had been.

"Oh man!" He grabbed a railing on the outside, and climbed up. As soon as he was safely on stable ground, he turned around and pressed his back to the metal, eyes wide and body shaking.

"Don't be able to climb," he whispered.

The clack and cling of scales and claws against the rungs of the ladder almost made Sam's eyes pop out of his head. He turned slowly as he saw the shadow of the creature over the rim of the metal. Shadow and creature became one, and they leapt at the screaming boy.

Daron heard the yell, even though he was in bed, shivering with fear. He never left his room, yet he always woke as the blue invaded.

As always, the clock read: 12:00


	3. Chapter 3

"We've got to talk about this," Melissa's face was set in a determined expression.

Jonathan woke Jess, who groggily yawned.

"Talk about what?" Jonathan demanded. His eyes narrowed as he saw Dess sit next to Melissa.

They were in the back of the truck, and something was about to go down.

"We can't keep going back for Jess. I think it was a good idea to leave her and let her catch up." Melissa looked as if she had thought about this quite a bit. _But what did she know? _thought Jonathan, angrily. _She doesn't care about anyone!_

Melissa sighed. She was used to angry thoughts pervading her consciousness. Very used to it.

"Jonathan, I'm being logical. Even Jess understands. We can't do this if we want to accomplish anything."

Jess put a hand on Jonathan's shoulder. "I'm okay, really. I'll have tons of time to check out the locations after you." She held back tears. She didn't want Jonathan to see how much she really wasn't okay. She didn't want to live a hundred years; lonely, and in a single hour roamed by dark creatures. But it was a choice she made.

Jonathan sighed. Reasoning beat love? Now that was something you wouldn't find very often…

_This is real life. Get used to it. _Melissa turned her gaze from him and looked at Dess.

"Have you got the map and stuff for Jess? She only has-" she checked her watch- "Four more minutes."

"And 32 seconds," Dess mumbled, handing some papers to Jess. They were full of Dess' scrawled handwriting in black ink.

Jess looked them over, and then gave Jonathan a last kiss as she disappeared, and the midnight hour with her.

"I can't believe we're abandoning her." Jonathan put his head in his hands.

Melissa didn't answer. She jumped out of the truck bed and hopped in the driver's seat, Dess quickly taking the passenger's.

No one spoke for a while, and neither commented on the muffled sobs coming from behind them.

* * *

Deron opened his eyes. Sunlight streamed in the open window. Another day. Another night survived.

As he got up, he was thinking about the first time he'd experienced the weird, blueness.

He'd thought it was a trick, set up by his maniacal older brother, Seth. But it wasn't. There was a black moon outside, and it made a fast trip through the sky. He didn't know why it happened, and it didn't scare him.

He heard the screams almost a year later.

He couldn't stop them. He tried putting pillows over his ears, but the sound kept coming. Tears had streamed down his blue-tinted twelve year old face. His was so alone. So scared. He heard every rip and yell, and felt them deep down in his heart.

Deron had never told his parents. At thirteen, he'd decided that he was just crazy, and since it was doing no one harm, he didn't want anyone to know. This kind of thing had happened in his blood line before. His great uncle was crazy, locked in a padded room. His great-great-grandfather had been sent to Alcatraz for murdering tons of people. His wife had been sent in next, for killing the dog with a handgun, and then a neighbor who asked about it.

Deron didn't want to be like that. He didn't want to be part of some horror story.

He wanted to be free from the midnight torture.

It hadn't taken him long to realize that the black moon happened at 12 00 exactly, and ended at one. But he thought of it more as a day in between those minutes, not an hour.

But every time he started thinking _I want to be free_, he quickly snapped out of it. Those kinds of thoughts could lead to suicide.

And he defiantly did not want that.

Outside of the midnight hour, his life was almost perfect. He had a loving mother, a slightly too-busy father, an overprotective brother, and a playful brother. They had wonderful family outings, and great memories of quieter times in the country.

Deron sighed as he pulled on his boots. He loved his life, and his family. He had great friends, was doing pretty well grade wise, and the days were sunny and lovely.

They lived in a town called Aubery, Minnesota.


	4. Chapter 4

"I'd say that the easiest place to get to is in Minnesota," said Dess. She'd been peering over the map for several minutes now.

"Why not Arizona? While we're over here?" Jonathan asked.

Melissa shrugged. "I feel that Minnesota is our best bet. It's almost…Calling…"

Jonathan looked at Dess and rolled his eyes.

As a mindcaster, Melissa could read people's minds. Usually, this had her head reeling, and she wore headphones to block it out. But lately, since she'd been trained by an elder mindcaster, she was finding it easier to control her ability.

"You seriously can feel that, from so far away?" Dess bit down into her sandwich. They were sitting at a table in a McDonalds on some obscure highway in the country.

Things had been a little sour between Dess and Melissa, ever since Melissa used her mindcasting powers to pry a secret out of Dess.

But past feuds had been left in Bixby. There was no place for contention in such a group that was so dependant on each other.

Especially now that there was only three left of the original five.

"Okay, we go to Minnesota. S'not like I have a choice anyway." Jonathan glumly stood and headed out to the car.

Dess paid while Melissa sipped the last of her drink, and dropped into the waste bin.

* * *

Deron heard that rumbling. It usually happened before someone yelled. He quickly dropped the rubber band he'd been wielding and turned to face the front. Mr. Cert was staring at him, anger in his face.

"Please bring your attention back to class, Mr. Ion."

Deron winced. While it wasn't a yell, it was still pretty loud. Why did everyone have to shout?

* * *

"Deron, what?" Holly narrowed her eyes and stared at his mouth.

Darn cleared his throat. It usually took two or three tries before his friends understood him. He'd simply just accepted the fact, and didn't wonder why.

"Are you going to the rally?" he yelled.

"Better," Holly yelled back.

Deron looked down. "So are you?" he yelled.

"Yes," Holly said this quieter than a yell, but just by a decibel.

"Oh, good. So we'll all be going." Daron looked around at all the faces in the lunchroom. He liked to examine people. Mostly eyes. Eyes were the most revealing of a person's attitude than anything.

"After all, the eyes are the windows to the soul," Daron whispered. None of his friends even turned a hair.

* * *

It took almost a week of driving to get from the McDonalds to Minnesota's borders. They never stopped to sleep because Melissa and Dess were taking turns at the wheel.

A few minutes to midnight, they'd stop, and everyone would rest. Without Jessica, there was no more 25/7 traveling.

Jonathan got bored sometimes during the midnight hour. He'd bounce out of the truck, as high as he could go, and vainly search for Jess on the horizon. She was out there somewhere, getting farther and farther away.

Then there would be the trick of landing without killing himself on the truck or a tree.

Melissa would rest meditatively. She'd cast her thoughts away and look for others. It was sometimes hard to see through the haze of Jonathan's loyal and guilty thoughts.

But even when she broke through, she'd find nothing. Not a wisp of thought out in the darkness. She could almost feel the frozen minds, blank to her.

Dess, however, was a hive of activity. She'd be making calculations, cardio-graphing, or just writing random mathematical problems. Dess was a polymath. You can probably guess what this means, but I'll tell you anyway.

She's really super good at math. She can do space-quantum-formulae in her head. Well, not _all_ in her head, but a lot of it. She was the one who figured out _why_ midnight happened. It all had to do with the coordinates- which always were multiples of twelve. Twelve was a darkling number.

The end of the midnight hour came, as it usually did, and as the black moon fell down the horizon, Melissa started the car, and the three drove on.


	5. Chapter 5

Jess sat on a bench. The sky was navy blue all around her, just as it always was.

Her friends had disappeared into thin air about four hours ago, according to her watch. That meant they'd been driving for four days already, and Jess should be getting a move on.

She sighed. It was so hard to believe that the world was rushing by around her, and that she was the one that was slowed down to a crawl.

It had been scary at first. No one was around, nothing was moving. Some things were frozen in the air.

Sometimes things did move. Well, they disappeared, like Melissa's truck had. It was a different world Jess lived in. Things were frozen, and then gone in an instant.

"Maybe the darklings are right to hate it here," Jess mumbled.

The worst part was- Jess had to be careful not to move anything that might hurt someone if it suddenly appeared. That meant no opening doors in public places, no throwing rocks in the street…

Jess was suddenly hit by a wave of loneliness. She hated this! For a moment, she almost hated her friends for leaving her.

Jess clenched a fist and bit it, tears flowing down her cheeks. She let her fist out, closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"I will look on the bright side. I will!"

But, for the moment, everything seemed as bleak as the rapidly passing blue sun.

* * *

"Ah. Here we are," said Dess, grinning. "96, 48" She waved a hand over the blank expanse of green.

"Doesn't look like much," Melissa said.

Jonathan nodded. It seemed to…empty to be sinister.

"Where's the town?" he asked.

"Well there's not going to be a town on every point, Jonathan!" Dess exclaimed. "I'd expect you to at least know that!"

_Melissa's defiantly rubbing off on her,_ Jonathan thought morbidly. Melissa shrugged.

"Now. Let's go to the nearest town and scout." Dess headed back to the teal truck.

Melissa followed, but Jonathan stayed, looking out at the valley.

He could feel something.

The land was so barren. It seemed almost haunted. But how could he sense that, and Melissa couldn't? Ridiculous.

Jonathan turned his back on the grasslands, unaware that black eyes were watching him.

They went into town. It was called Arbor Vale. Wasn't such a bad place; there were sunny plazas and even some cobbled roads. The three searched and searched, but they didn't see any signs of past midnighters. No symbols, no thirteens, nothing.

In Bixby, there had been many past generations of midnighters. Midnighters had built the town! They had put thirteens and all sorts of things into it, to protect it from darklings that came in from the desert.

But none of these signs were present in Arbor Vale.

The trio stopped for a Super-slush in a 7/11 along the main street.

"All the kids must still be at school," Jonathan said, sipping his cherry flavored drink.

"Doesn't matter. We'll find out more tonight than we will during the day." Melissa looked around the place. "Pity they shut down our 7/11 back in Bixby."

"So you three are from out of town, then?" came a voice from behind them.

They all turned their heads, except for Melissa, who was facing that way.

"Yes. Here on vacation," Dess answered.

"Oh. I was wondering why you weren't in school." It was an old man, sitting at the next table. He had to be at least sixty. His scrawny body usually was supported by a thick, silver-topped cane that sat next to his stool. His eyes shined behind old, dirty glasses.

"Yeah…" said Jonathan. The red liquid went down in his glass.

"My name's Bob," said the old man, reaching out to shake hands with Dess.

"Nice, firm shake, there," Bob said, smiling. His face wrinkled.

Dess pulled her hand back. Any shake would be firm compared to Bob's quivering hands.

"So, why'd you come here to vacation? Nothing much around." Bob must not have had much to do, or was a nosy busy-body.

Dess and Jonathan turned to Melissa for an answer. It was better that she did, because she was a mindcaster and knew Bob's thoughts.

"We've come to take pictures. Our parents are photographers, and they want us to get some experience in," Melissa replied slowly.

"Oh, are they now?" Bob swung off his barstool, and grunted as the cane took his weight. "Well, I guess I'll be seeing you around. I go down the scenic routes all the time."

The three nodded and said goodbye as the bell dinged on the door to signify his passage.

"What a creepy old guy," Melissa said as she put her glass back on the counter. "He'll probably follow us everywhere."

"Maybe he'll know something about midnight!" Dess said excitedly.

Jonathan shook his head. "We can't just _ask_ him. He might not know anything anyway."

"I can't wait for midnight," Melissa grumbled.


	6. Chapter 6

Midnight blue flowed through the town…

Deron was sitting straight up in bed. He attempted a state of mind that removed all thought.

It was quiet. Too quiet. Not a scream to be heard.

One of his eyes flicked open. Maybe he was next?

For some reason, calm was buried in his heart, destroying the fear before it came to swallow him. Deron didn't feel afraid tonight. He wondered why. Should he dare go to the window, or even outside?

He shook his head. Maybe they were just trying to draw him out. He'd stay here, were it was safe, tonight.

* * *

Melissa's head snapped up. 

Jonathan looked over, boredom in his eyes. "What happened?" he asked.

"There's another midnighter! He's in town, in his house. About-" Melissa waved her hand through the air- "A block or two that way."

They were loitering in their truck in front of an old movie theatre. The men across the street in the music store had given them some strange looks, but now it was midnight, they were free of anyone's scrutiny.

"Let's go, then." Dess stood up. "Maybe Jonathan should bounce us over."

Melissa glanced at Jonathan, and looked down. "It's not such a long walk. Don't want to scare the kid."

Dess blew air out through pursed lips. "Fine, then. Let's go."

* * *

Daron heard voices. 

They came from outside, loud and clear, as if the owners weren't in fear of the blue shadows. And more disturbingly- they were talking about him.

"So, should we throw rocks at his window or something?" a boy asked.

"Even that would scare him. Let's just climb up and knock."

"As if that would be less frightening," the boy mumbled, but it wasn't very quiet.

Deron closed his eyes as he heard scrabbling up the trellis in his yard. He'd had nightmares about this kind of thing… The creature would climb up, open the window slowly, and leap into his room, clawing and slashing.

Deron shivered. _Please let these people be good…_

"Alright, here. Now be quiet."

There was a knock on the glass.

Deron flinched. What should he do? Just go open it?

He sighed, and used every extra reserve of bravery he had to get up, and slowly open the window.

Melissa wriggled in, followed by Dess and Jonathan.

Deron stepped back, hitting his dresser. "Who-who are you?"

"I'm Jonathan, and this is Dess and Artichoke." Jonathan smiled as he pointed to his friends.

"Haha, very funny." The one called Melissa stepped forward, glaring at Jonathan.

"We're midnighters, like you," said Dess. Daron immediately decided he liked her best.

"So…You're alive now too. How'd you find me?" Daron asked. He wasn't entirely sure if these people were safe or not. After all, they could be the ones that did the killing or maiming. They earn your trust, then destroy you.

"We're friends," Melissa said. "We're not going to kill or maim you."

Daron's eyes widened, and he stumbled over a pile of clothes.

"I'm a mindcaster," said Melissa, by way of explanation. "I can read other people's thoughts."

"The creatures that kill are called darklings. They hate us," Dess continued.

"Plus, we taste pretty darn good!" Jonathan laughed. Daron winced.

Melissa's eyes narrowed. "You must have an ability we haven't heard of before."

"What?"

"You are able to hear things with increased perceptiveness. I'm guessing that anyway. How about this…" Melissa stepped closer, and lowered her voice, but to Daron, it sounded like a perfect conversational tone.

"Do you hear me now?"

Daron nodded. "You sound normal to me."

"Cool." Melissa turned away and sat on Daron's bed. "Now, we have to ask you something."

"More like a lot of somethings…" Jonathan muttered.

"First, how long have you seen the midnighter hour?" Dess whipped out a notepad and pen.

"Um. Since I was six." Daron had remembered that clearly.

Dess wrote it down and looked up again. "Do you know anyone else who sees midnight as well?"

Daron whimpered. "I've never left the house. I don't want to get killed. There were at least three others that I know of. They were found clawed and scratched…Horrible." Daron felt the beginnings of tears in his eyes. But he didn't want to cry in front of these people! Perhaps the only people who knew the secret.

Dess sighed. "Maybe you were right, Jonathan. Maybe there were others at other towns, and they just got killed." To Daron, she said: "You're a smart one. No wonder you survived."

"Is there any way to stop it?" Daron ran a hand through his hair. "I don't want to hear anyone else die."

Melissa shook her head morbidly. "The midnight hour is here to stay, for us. But we do have one option open to you."

"What?"

"Do you want to come with us? We're making a midnighter force."

Deron didn't know what to say. He was sorely tempted to just say "no" and be done with it. But here was an escape. An escape from fear, from all the loneliness the midnight hour had made him endure, night after night, and even during the day.

"I don't know," he finally said. And he really didn't. What if what he was getting into was worse than where he already was?

Melissa nodded. She could respect his indecision. She saw how the hour had made his life, and felt a bit of pity for the kid. Even though he was just a bit younger than her, that gap seemed a great deal larger than it should have had. Melissa felt more like an adult, she reasoned, because of the responsibility and proximity with death she had had at such a young age,

Jonathan was leaning against a blue papered wall. The room was bare of anything much, except piles of clothes, the bed, the dresser, a desk.

"What now?" he asked. "The hour's almost up." He pointed to the wound watch on his wrist. Those weren't powered by electricity, and therefore worked during the hour- when they were on a midnighter.

Dess yawned. "I'd say sleep for all of us. Kid, let's give you a day to think about it. We'll come back tomorrow night."

Deron nodded. It would be nice to have a night's rest, and then have time to think in the morning.


	7. Chapter 7

Deron woke that morning feeling elated. Finally. Something good had happened during the midnight hour. At least- to him.

He walked down the hallway with a spring in his step, and hummed 'Walking on Sunshine" under his breath. Of course, that'd mean that it was inaudible to anyone but himself, which further cheered him.

"Ya ya ya, walking on sunshine," he sang quietly, bursting into the living room. The air in there was somber, and the brightness immediately fled Deron's eyes.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

Seth, Tyler, and their mom sat at the table eating breakfast. None of them spoke.

"What's wrong?" Deron asked again, just a bit louder.

His mom glanced at him and sighed. "Another kid's been found mauled. They don't know if she's dead or alive yet."

Deron sat heavily in a seat, eyes wide with shock. Had anyone else been out last night, besides his new friends?

He couldn't bring himself to eat.

"It was sick!" shouted Seth. "They showed pictures of the last two kids. Barely anything left!"

His mom glared. "Seth, that's awful!"

Seth looked down into his cereal. He was a guy, what could he say?

"What did it, Mom?" Tyler asked. His young face was full of fear.

"Oh…Everyone says it was a mountain lion. But they say the marks are too large. It'd have to be a gigantic lion…"

Daron couldn't bare any more. "Hey, mom, I'm going to school, kay?" He grabbed his bag and ran out the door before anyone could react.

"It's a little early, don'tcha think?" Their mom asked the air.

The day passed by too slowly for both groups.

Daron was bored out of his mind, not comprehending anything unless it was yelled in his face. He tried listening to other people's conversations, but it was too hard to do over the other noise.

And so…The day passed by in this fashion. Even when Daron got out of school, time persisted on dragging by.

_Why couldn't we have met during the day? That would have solved many things…_

Of course, Daron's mom was a bit over-protective. She defiantly wouldn't like the look of the three midnighters. Melissa and Dess wore pure black, and Jonathan had 'troublemaker' written all over his face.

But midnight came again.

* * *

Daron waited. He checked the clock. It told him 12 00, as it had the last few minutes.

_Where are they?_ he wondered impatiently. _How could they make me wait so long?_

If one of their group _had_ been injured, maybe they'd forgotten. Maybe all of them were at the hospital at that very moment…

Daron jumped as something occurred to him. What if the girl was hooked up to machines that kept her breathing? Midnight would freeze the electricity, but the girl would keep on going. She'd have to survive a full hour on her own. Any midnighter dependant on hospital machines would die the first night!

Daron didn't like that. _Maybe I should go check out the hospital, just in case._

He was about to open the door to his room when two figures landed on the rooftop.

Daron let out the breath he'd been holding when one called out: "It's us!"

He went to the window and opened it, letting Dess and Jonathan inside. The both looked very tired and windblown.

"Oh no. Was Melissa…?"

Jonathan nodded. "We were jumped by a darkling last night on the way back. We weren't armed, and…It seemed a lot smarted than any we've encountered before."

"Needless to say- It got the best of us." Dess sat on a pile of clothes. "Melissa got slashed a couple times; blood was everywhere. It was about to finish her off when the hour ended."

"We rushed her to the hospital as fast as we could," Jonathan continued. "We just checked up on her now."

Daron looked at the wooden floor beneath his feet. This was awful. He'd known those creatures could kill, but now it had come so close to killing the only friends he had in this evil world…

"What do you mean 'armed'?" he asked suddenly. That word had struck him as Dess and Jonathan explained.

"Steel and thirteens are weapons against the darklings, whose number is twelve." Dess pulled some tacks out of her pocket and put them in the windowsill, counting as she went.

"One…Two…"

Jonathan and Daron watched her as she slowly got to thirteen. The steel tacks glistened blue in the midnight moon.

"I did this for Jess, too," Dess whispered.

"I've made up my mind," Daron announced into the silence that had followed Dess' sad comment.

Both Jonathan and Dess looked at him expectantly.

"I'm not going with you. If you just teach me a few things, I should be fine." Daron's natural brown eyes were deep navy as they watched Dess' and Jonathan's.

"Well, okay, I guess," Jonathan finally said. "We can't just tear everyone away. Maybe we need to revise our plans a bit."

Dess shook her head. "Let's go talk to Melissa about it. But first- let's go get the stuff out of my bag."

Jonathan, Dess and Daron went out onto the porch roof, which was just under Daron's window. There was a duffel bag sitting in the dark blue shadows, the shiny new steel glinting as it poked out.

"Ah…" Dess sighed, picking up a long pole and kissing it.

Jonathan shrugged at Daron.

"We use these to battle off darklings," Jonathan told Daron as he pulled a silver plate from the bag. "We can give them thirteen letter names to pack extra punch."

"Hyphenated-14," Dess whispered.

"Wait…that's twelve letters!" Daron protested.

"Well, let's hope the hyphen counts." Dess pulled out a few more weapons and grinned as she hefted her pole.

"Let's go see Melissa."


	8. Chapter 8

The hospital was not a place that Deron had visited very often. Only the occasional broken bone, and once when Tyler was born.

The gleaming plastic and metal and glass structure rose high into the sky, intimidating Deron just a bit.

"So…" he said as the marched in the revolving door and past the darkened front desk. When he saw the woman behind it, he screamed.

"Calm down, calm down!" Dess put a reassuring hand on Deron. "It's just a stiff."

Deron's eyes widened.

"No! Not that kind of stiff. It's a regular person. This is what they look like at midnight."

The woman was in her thirties, dressed stylishly, and talking into a phone. Her skin was pale, pale, blue, lit up by the dark moon outside.

"Ok. I'm good now." But still he watched her all the way to the stairs, not wanting her to come to a zombie-kind of life and come after them.

"This is what I hate about blue-time," Dess muttered. "Stairs."

Jonathan bounced up four stairs at a time. "If we still had Jess, we could take the elevator."

Deron looked at Dess as he climbed. "Who's this 'Jess' you guys keep talking about?" He hadn't asked earlier, seeing as how much it affected the two. But curiosity had got the best of him this time.

"She was a part of our group too. But…" Dess looked up at the concrete stairs above them. "She got stuck in midnight."

"H-how?" Deron shivered. It'd be awful to have to live with those horrible stiffs.

"Stuck her hand in lightning." Jonathan sniffed and coughed. "She saved us all by doing that."

Deron didn't feel like asking any more questions.

The rest of the climb up was uneventful and silent; Deron was glad to reach Melissa's floor.

"Which room?" He pointed down the moonlit hall. "There's so many."

"Three fifty-nine," Jonathan replied, rebounding off a wall and zooming down the open corridor.

"OUCH!" They heard him call from farther down.

Dess and Deron sprinted toward the sound, and reached Jonathan in seconds. He was sitting on the floor in front of a very busy-looking blue man.

"Serves you right," Dess muttered as Jonathan rubbed his head. She began walking again.

Jonathan scowled and followed her.

Melissa, of course, had known they were coming, and was sitting upright in bed, reading.

Deron restrained a gasp. Her arms were wrapped in bandages, and so was one side of her face. One eye was totally covered. The other eye, tainted a deep blue by midnight, watched him carefully.

"Oh, wow." Deron stepped back. It seemed she wasn't connected to any machines, which was a good thing. "Does it hurt something awful?"

"Yeah. It does." Melissa yawned. "But so what?"

Jonathan shrugged and collapsed into a chair. Dess followed suit and sat on the sofa. (It was a nice room. It had a sofa and just one bed for just one patient.)

"Melissa," Dess said, as soon as she was situated. "Deron doesn't want to leave with us. Jonathan thinks maybe we better rethink our plan."

Melissa squinted with her one eye at Deron. "We need thirteen midnighters, willing and strong. Everyone to do his part."

Jonathan perked up. "What are you talking about?"

"Something Rex told me…" Melissa's eye turned misty. "Thirteen midnighters to destroy the Darkling King, and midnight itself."


	9. Chapter 9

Daron was silent as they walked down the stairs again.

Every generation, Melissa said, thirteen midnighters go to fight the Darkling King. Only one had ever been known to survive.

Madeline- of course.

Rex had read it long ago, the night after he and Melissa had met. They'd thought nothing of it. Only recently had Melissa felt the calling, the calling to do her part; to go and gather those thirteen midnighters, and maybe even triumph. Everyone had to try.

_What if I die?_

Daron, too, felt the need to go and fight, to try, but he was very scared. How could these kids, only a few years older than he, be so fearless and confident?

_I have to try. I have to!_

Those were the kinds of thoughts that were floating around his head as they got outside. He nearly ran into Jonathan when the boy stopped suddenly. Dess and Jonathan stood stalk still.

Daron paused and strained his ears, to 'see' if he could hear anything.

Nope. Nothing.

"What is it?" he whispered.

"A darkling- look." Jonathan pointed into the darkness. Deron squinted a moment, and then tried to convince himself that he saw a sleek black shape out there. But it just didn't seem to be.

"I don't see anything."

"Shush!" Dess didn't move, but she glared at him with her eyes. "On three, draw your weapons."

Daron wanted to nod, to not make any noise whatsoever. But he was so scared that he seemed frozen. His metal disks, Hypenated-15, were in his pocket.

Jonathan reached back, ever so slowly, until his hand was poised over his pack.

"One…Two…Three!"

Dess yanked out her long pole, slashing it forward into the dark. Blue sparks blinded Deron for a moment. That was enough to wake him from his trance.

"Throw them!" Jonathan shouted, swinging his chain. He had a thing for chains. It must have been because they were all hard-core and everything.

The chain whipped through the air with a whomp noise, striking a beautiful-looking jaguar creature, whose body was now lit up with sparks.

It wasn't black per se, Deron thought. More dark blue.

There was a growl behind him. Another one! Deron swung around and tried to see the source of the hideous noise. It sounded like crashing symbols and straining machinery.

A monkey-thing was advancing on Dess from behind, brandishing long, lethal claws.

Deron shouted and threw a disk. On it's way through the air it began to hum and vibrate, until it had a strange white aura around it.

VWWWWWWWWWOooooooom!!!!!!!

It slammed into the monkey at a million miles an hour, shattering it. Pieces of darkness flew everywhere, scaring the daylights out of Dess and Jonathan, not to mention the rest of the darkling creatures.

Deron heard howls and screams as the monsters fled, and it shocked him even more to realize that they were afraid of _him._

* * *

It was 2 o'clock and Deron still wasn't asleep.

Thoughts raced through his head, all vying for attention, and yet distracting him from giving any. In a way, that was a relief. He didn't want to think about anything that had happened that week. But it was also exhausting. He just wanted them to stop and let him rest.

_Death. Monsters. Midnight._

_Death. Monsters. Midnight._

_Death. Monsters. Midnight._

Thirteen times these thoughts ran around.

And then he surrendered to peace.

* * *

The next day was sunny and cheerful. Deron was so happy to see a different color than blue that he did a little dance.

Blue was a nice color, until it invaded everything you saw and became a symbol of dread.

Yes. Well. That summed it up nicely.

"Good morning," Deron's mother called.

"Hi, mum." He sat at the table more tired than he had ever felt before.

"Are you alright, dear? Not enough sleep, is that it?" She gave him a plateful of toast. Tyler and Seth had already gone off to school.

"I'm fine." He stuffed a piece of bread in his mouth. "I'm also late. See ya later, mum." Deron grabbed his backpack from the floor and flew out the front door, leaving a mini dust storm in his wake.

His mother shook her head. "Boys."

* * *

The day, surprisingly, passed quickly. Science, English, math, PE, history, computers… And then freedom.

Deron didn't like those free hours he had. He didn't want to think about the decision he'd eventually have to make.

Did he leave? Or did he stay?

* * *

Blue leaves around her feet, stirred by her passing. Blue eyes, blue hair, blue everything. A cold, chill wind blowing from the east, bringing rain that might never come.

Hands, feet, cold and numb.

Teeth, gritted, hard as stone.

Hunger, thirst and want for some sign of life.

On the border edge of insanity, but something was holding it back.

A call, a call from so far away…


	10. Chapter 10

"I'll go." Deron looked directly into Dess' eyes. He didn't want the look afraid, but it took all his willpower not to burst out into tears.

He could never tell his family where he went; they'd just think he'd disappeared, run away. And even if he left a note or something, what if he _never came back_?

Deron suppressed a shudder and stepped back.

"When do you think Melissa can come with us?"

Dess and Jonathan exchanged a look.

"She told us to look for the rest of the group as she recuperates," Dess said. "And we only have a few other places to look. We might not get up to thirteen people to go in time."

"So…There's a certain date?" Jonathan asked.

"Can't you feel it?" Dess waved her hand. "The call is getting stronger and stronger. It's in our blood as midnighters to do this."

"What happens if we don't?"

Jonathan shivered. "Probably something real bad."

Dess nodded. "I don't know. But I agree with Jonathan."

* * *

Melissa sat in the hospital, feeling utterly alone. It was not a feeling she'd experienced much, just the brief period of time before she had met Rex.

She felt a tear fall slowly down her pale cheek. Angrily, she wiped it away. She'd promised not to think about him. He'd made his choices. Life had happened.

And that was all there was to it.

* * *

Deron hopped in the car with two total strangers. It was 1 30, and the teal green truck was rumbling down deserted dirt roads, in almost total darkness.

He had his face against the window. Silence. The cold glass pressed against his cheek, keeping him awake. An owl calls out in the night.

Jonathan's asleep.

Dess doesn't speak. She's trying too hard to stay alert.

Why couldn't sleep come? That was all Deron wanted: to go to sleep and wish that none of this was really happening.

Tink. Something hits the roof. Daron jumps.

Tink. Tinktink.

"What's that?" he asked rather franticly.

"Rain," Dess replies.

He calmed down. Only rain. There was a clap of thunder, and the skies poured down water by the gallons.

Tinktinktinktink…

Daron fell asleep to the whisper of the rain.

* * *

The town of Heeds was asleep. Everyone but those two.

Their figures were one with the shadows as they raced through the blue hour.

They stopped just outside of town, where a car was parked.

"How do I know I can trust you?" asked the girl, pulling down a hood and letting her long, pink hair flow over her shoulders.

"Just trust me. How many other helping hands do you see out here?"

She opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out.

"Okay, then. Explain on the way."

The boy nodded, his eyes flashing with midnight. Little did the girl know, those eyes saw and had seen much more than anyone knew.

* * *

Daron jerked. Even in his sleep, he could feel the car stop.

"What is it?" he asked. It defiantly wasn't morning. Black still showed outside.

"There's another car."

It was coming from the left. Dess was waiting for it to turn. But it didn't. The headlights stayed on, and the dark figure inside didn't make a move to go.

"Okaaaay…" Dess honked the horn. "GO already."

The lights on the other car flipped off. The driver's door opened.

Dess' eyes widened, and she got out too.

"Dess! What are you _doing_?" Daron whispered. But Dess didn't stop. She ran up to the other person and gave him a huge hug.

"REX!"


	11. Chapter 11

Deron stood there awkwardly, looking anywhere but at the two embracing friends in front of him

Deron stood there awkwardly, looking anywhere but at the two embracing friends in front of him.

Dess stepped back and blushed a bit. Jonathan, however, came up and clapped his hand on Rex's back, old buddies meeting again.

"So…" said Rex after the two had separated. "Who is this?"

Rex's dark eyes bored into Deron's, making the latter feel slightly uncomfortable. He broke contact and looked down, away from the mysterious newcomer.

"A new midnighter," Dess replied, looking proud.

"This town comes to life like Bixby!" Jonathan exclaimed.

"How did you find us?" Dess's question rang out into the night. All the pride had left her eyes, and now she seemed suspicious.

"It wasn't very hard to follow your trail…I only needed the desire." His black eyes were downcast.

Dess sniffed and stepped back. "And what was the motivation?"

Deron felt like his head was going to explode. He didn't know what was going on at all.

You see; Rex had stayed behind in Bixby when his fellow midnighters left. He had been tainted by darklings, once, and never was the same again.

And so…

"I was lonely."

Dess nodded, satisfied for the moment.

"I brought a new midnighter as well." He waved a hand at the car.

A girl stepped out, colored as pale as the moon. But she had long black hair that flowed down her back, and deep, dark eyes.

Jonathan's mouth dropped open, and Deron gasped real quietly. Dess just huffed.

She fluttered her eyelashes, embarrassed at the other three's reaction to her.

"This is Aris." Rex took the girl's hand. "I found her in a town called Alleol."

Dess' turn to gasp. "What?! We looked there already!"

"I guess you didn't look hard enough." Rex grinned.

Melissa listened to the night noises around her. Somewhere outside the window, a cricket was chirping. The low hum of equipment, and the steady beat of someone's heart monitor down the hall. It wasn't exactly peaceful, but it was calm.

Her eyelids drooped. She wanted to sleep.

_Up three over two._

She knew better than jerk up in bed. She covered up her little jump by nestling down in the covers more.

There was someone with bad intentions was in the building. Really near.

Melissa closed her eyes.

Up three. UP two…up one…

_They're counting down._ Melissa turned over so she was facing the door. With every step, the voice got nearer. Her heart started pounding. This was unlike anything she'd ever faced with darklings. Because it was a human.

And she was alone.

_Come on Melissa. Play dead._ She was disgusted at herself. Quickly, the girl jumped out of bed and padded over to the bathroom, but she didn't lock the door behind her. She kept it open a crack.

Melissa felt the person coming ever closer.

Over two…Over two…Over one…

Melissa's eyes widened. Up three floors, over two doors. They were _targeting a room_!

The evil intent around them gave Melissa no doubts about what they were going to do.

But who was it, and why?

Maybe this was her chance to play the hero. Go save someone's life with her midnighter

abilities.

She got up from the cold linoleum tiles and was about to open the door when she saw a shadow pass over the doorway to her room.

Melissa gasped quietly and shrank back as the man entered her room. He had a gun, and was walking so silently she wouldn't have noticed him if she was asleep.

It was dark; she could barely see his face. Light from the parking posts outside shone through the slats on the hospital window, coloring the empty eyes yellow-orange.

Melissa couldn't move, couldn't breathe as the man stepped forward.

He shot the bed. Once, twice.

Melissa covered her ears and shut her eyes, not wanting to go deaf.

When she finally dared to open her eyes again, the assassin was gone.

Everyone was returning to town, to bring word to Melissa. Rex and Aris took everyone with them (since their van was bigger), while Dess rode alone.

Deron felt very much left out as he sat in the back of Rex's car, looking out the window silently. Jonathan, sitting next to him, didn't feel much obliged to start a conversation. Aris and Rex were talking in the front, about really trivial things like weather, but those kinds of chitchats can only go on so long. Soon, deafening silence descended over the car.

That is, until they reached city limits, and saw all the police cars racing off somewhere at top speed.

"Whoa!" Jonathan shouted as one almost clipped them on the road. "Where are they going in such a rush?!"

"Don't know. Want to find out?" Rex asked, looking back at him as he drove.

"Not really," said Aris, tapping his knee.

Jonathan stuck his tongue out at the girl when they both turned back to the front. Deron smiled.

"So. Where's this hospital?" Rex asked, turning onto a main road.

"Down that way," said Jonathan, who'd only ever seen it from above.

"Actually," Deron cut in. "It's down South Bridge, and then you turn on Terracota."

Rex nodded. "Kay, then."

Jonathan slumped in his seat. "Sorry, I wasn't _born_ here." He glared out the window.

_What a stupid thing to get mad about. Well, I guess he has his pride._ Deron thought.

After five minutes, everyone suddenly seemed to notice that they'd been following the police cars the whole way.

"They can't be going to the hospital…" Aris muttered.

Jonathan jumped again. "They are!"

Rex slammed his foot down on the accelerator and suddenly they had caught up with the black and white vehicles in front of them, which were going almost 100mph.

"Watch out!" Aris screamed.

The car narrowly missed a pedestrian as Rex drove the car sideways, and then on two wheels.

SLAM!

The car hit the ground again, upright.

Aris' face was in shock, but Jonathan was exhilarated. "WHOO! I hope those po-LICE saw that!"

"I hope not," said Rex. "Let's pray they were too busy to notice."

"They'd probably award you for fantastic maneuvering," Deron mumbled. To his surprise, the always-somber Rex laughed. Dess snickered as well.

Aris unfroze and guffawed beside him, and even Jonathan joined in.

For the life of him, Deron couldn't see what was so funny.


	12. Chapter 12

Police cars surrounded the gleaming white hospital building. Lights were flashing, sirens blaring, and there was the crackle of speakers as they spoke to one another through walkie-talkies.

Red. Blue. Red. Blue.

The place wasn't taped off yet, so Rex turned his lights off and parked inconspicuously in a space near the back. He had excellent night vision.

"Come on," he muttered, opening his door semi-silently. Deron surveyed the midnighters, and noticed that all but he and Aris were wearing black. Her skin would stick out like a beacon. And Deron's white shirt would glow with unearthly luminescence.

"Maybe Aris and I should stay here." He felt pretty proud of himself for speaking out. Usually he was too nervous to talk around people that awed him.

Rex whipped his head around and pulled down his sunglasses with a finger. Why the heck was he wearing those at night anyway?

He looked at them. He sniffed.

"You stay. Or you can change your shirt."

And then he got out of the car.

Deron felt awfully stupid. Considering that he had set out on a long journey tonight, of course he had an extra shirt. He glanced at Aris and wondered if Rex hadn't heard her name.

However, Rex was much more experienced than Deron. He knew what he was doing. Most likely.

Dess, Jonathan, Aris, and Deron climbed out of the car. Aris had ridden shotgun, so it was much easier for her than it was for the passengers in the back.

When everyone had gathered themselves, Rex led them across the way to the hospital. Deron shivered. His past memories of this place (which weren't too old) were anything but pleasant.

At least the blue moon of midnight wasn't shining down on them, and the receptionist wasn't frozen. But that turned out to be a problem.

She was talking to two men, both of which were in blue uniforms. Walkie-talkies buzzed at their belts, and bright floodlights shone in from the windows. They were questioning her.

The rest of the room was lit in a sort of twilight, destroying their chances of sneaking up the stairs to Melissa. Of course everyone was worried for her. At least, Deron was.

Something major had happened. All of the police of his town were out here, with guns and lights and even dogs.

Rex looked at Aris. "Go on."

Jonathan raised an eyebrow.

Aris closed her own dark eyes and sighed deeply. Her chest heaved in again and she clapped her hands together, quietly.

The policemen and lady at the desk didn't seem to notice anything. But Rex could see the blue streak of midnight wrap itself around them, and freeze them in place.

"Whoa," said Dess, interrupting the sudden silence. Deron turned away, frightened of Aris' power.

"Come on," said Rex for the second time that night. He didn't wait for them as he rushed up the stairs.

_Maddeningly impatient, that one,_ thought Deron as he rushed after the others.

"Stop!" he cried suddenly as they flew up the stairs. The group came to a standstill.

"I hear voices upstairs," he whispered, glad to be actually helping.

Jonathan snickered. "You hear voices." Snicker, snicker.

"Shush it up," said Aris, surprising them. She hasn't spoken in all of the ten minutes they had known her. It was an icy tone, as if she didn't care to speak to them, and wished she wasn't.

Deron strained his supernatural midnighters powers, as well as his ears; trying to get a hint of where the sound was coming from.

"About two floors up, I think," he finally announced.

"Melissa's room in on that floor," Dess said worriedly.

"Let's go," said Rex, racing off.

Jonathan glowered as they went up the flights of stairs. He didn't like Rex just assuming command after months of separation. Jonathan considered the team a democracy now, where no one was leader, and everyone had a say.

_He actually helped us by going away. Haha._ Jonathan thought as the group entered Melissa's hallway ever so slowly.

Three policemen stood outside her door.

Dess managed to hold in a gasp. Rex waved a hand at Aris.

She nodded and clapped her hands again. This time, the freezing happened a lot slower. She instantly seemed tired, and slumped down on a waiting bench. Her pale skin became even paler, and her long black hair folded in curtains around her face.

Deron didn't like the way Rex was abusing Aris' power, but he didn't say so. It was another topic for another time.

Rex waited for the others to enter Melissa's room.

_What a wimp._ Deron thought.

Dess went in first, and then Jonathan and Deron. Rex went last, leaving Aris out in the corridor.

All the lights were on. There were all kinds of forensic equipment in the room. Areas were sectioned off, and tape strung itself from every possible space.

Melissa, however, was not there.


	13. Chapter 13

Melissa had gasped and wheezed as she ran down the darkened stairs only a half hour before. She felt around with her mind, but detected nothing. No one. Just a very worried receptionist, and scared, sleepy patients.

Her casts bumped against her, and she knew that running was probably not such a good thing to do. But, in any case, she had to get out of here.

The lady at the desk was calling the police. Her voice was high pitched and tears fell down her face.

"I heard gunshots!" she kept shouting.

Melissa shook her head and slipped toward the door. It was dark, very dark, and her white casts stood out. Luckily, though, the receptionist was too concerned with sobbing into the phone to notice anything.

One step, two step, and then she made a break for it.

Out the door, bare feet against concrete. Night air whipped by her as she put distance between her and her almost-death.

She could already hear the hyper thoughts of the young policemen; eager to do something cool.

Again she shook her head at the naivety of the world. Things were more real than anyone made them. They just deceived themselves to keep up the fake reality they built around them.

"I have to find Jonathan and Dess," she said aloud. "And Deron," she added reluctantly.

Her vision couldn't penetrate the deep blackness of the wood, so she kept to the road, hobbling along, because her stomach hurt something fierce.

A police car rushed by, and another, and another. None of them paid the little hitchhiker a second glance.

Melissa sighed and collapsed into the dirt, holding her aching legs out in front of her. The stars twinkled overhead, and she had a sudden desire to lay down and go to sleep under them.

She snapped her eyes open. Sleep was hardly the best thing to do, with an attempted-murderer on the loose.

Rising, ever so slowly, Melissa grabbed a low tree branch and pulled herself up. Mud and grass stains covered her hastily thrown on jeans, making her look as if she'd been through a war.

FOOM!

Another police vehicle careened by on the road, closely followed by a regular black van…

_That's Rex's car!_ She practically screamed in her head. She jumped and ran like a girl possessed, but didn't make it very far.

She stumbled and made a face plant into the ground.

"Ow," she muttered, rubbing her head. Melissa sat up and looked towards the distant lights of the hospital.

"Time to go back, I guess."

* * *

"Where is she?" asked Aris, rather harshly.

Dess was feeling a bit emotional, but got it under control. She stepped forward and glanced about, and then walked back out into the hall.

"Not here," she concluded, after a brief search of the surrounding area. "She must have got out."

"What do you mean?" asked Deron.

"Yeah, and what happened here?" Jonathan queried.

"How should I know?" Dess mumbled at Jonathan. To Deron she said, "She must have escaped when she heard someone coming."

"Someone coming specifically for her?" Rex asked rather eerily. He pointed to the ripped up bed that had been sheared by the bullets.

No one really wanted to answer.

* * *

But everyone felt the call like a huge hammer to their brains.

Now was the time to go.

Now was the time to fight.


	14. Chapter 14

"There's no waiting for Melissa. We've got to go now," Dess flew out the hospital door.

Rex and Aris exchanged a glance, and then followed after her. Jonathan and Deron, however, stayed in the room a bit longer, both of them watching the flowing white curtains blow in the breeze from the open window.

Jonathan didn't want to turn away and leave. But the distant pangs in his head pulled him away. Deron watched the boy leave. He heard faraway footsteps on concrete stairs. For some reason, he knew something was wrong.

Something wrong with the light coming in the window.

It had a faint tinge of blue to it.

Somewhere, something was humming.

What did it all mean? Deron stepped backwards. Two midnights? It was only…Four o'clock in the morning. Did it have something to do with the call to fight?

* * *

Melissa saw Rex's car parked in the hospital lot. But she wasn't really looking at it. She was staring into the air, where she saw dark blue particles floating downward through the air like snow.

_What is this_? she thought, catching one of the snowflakes.

As it touched down on her skin, it melted into a puddle of blue liquid in her palms. Just like a real snowflake would.

Melissa looked up into the sky, a burst of wind blowing her loose hair back. She squinted a bit and tried to see up into the gray-blue clouds. But there wasn't anything up there except, well, clouds.

Suddenly, a tremor rocked the mind-space in the air around Melissa. She yelled and collapsed to the ground, her eyes tightly closed. Again and again the call rocked through the parking lot, pulling on her insistently.

Melissa rose shakily, almost unable to stand in the shivering air. Her eyes focused on a spot far away in the dark, a point just beyond the mountains. She sighed. The reunion would be so diluted by a fight with dark monsters. Then again, how appropriate.

Melissa didn't see anyone in the car, or coming out of the building, so she used all of her available willpower to force herself to wait for her friends. It took several minutes, but eventually Dess, Rex and Aris emerged from the hospital, along with Jonathan, and Deron a moment later.

Melissa sighed with relief. She had been worried that they had been…hurt. She watched them exclaim about the blueness.

Deron saw her first.

"Melissa!" he shouted, running toward her. He stopped about a foot away, feeling kind of awkward. He didn't know her _that_ well.

Dess, luckily, saved him.

"You're alive!" she shouted. "What happened?"

Melissa shrugged, unused to such an outburst from Dess about her well-being. Rex walked up with Aris, putting a chill on the moment. His dark eyes stared into Melissa's and tugged on her soul.

"Let's go," he said quietly. He got into his car.

Dess went and pulled five bags of steel out of the back of her car. She loaded up Rex's, and then got into her own car.

Melissa walked after Dess, and sat shotgun. Dess looked at her questioningly as she started up the car.

"Rex," Melissa said, and she looked away.

* * *

Deron had a lot of time to think as they drove toward the mountains. He felt the call, just like everyone else, but he was terribly afraid. They were going to fight _monsters_.

Jonathan snoozed beside him, calm, ever cocky, even while he slept. Deron looked back out the window and sighed. Perhaps he was just being a baby. These people had fought darklings all their lives. They weren't complaining.

"I'm a midnighter. This is what we do," Deron whispered to himself.

Jonathan smiled in his sleep.

* * *

"Someone came for you? That's really weird. A human too."

"Really weird?! Is that all you can say? They wanted to kill me!" Melissa grumbled a bit under her breath.

"Yeah, yeah. But is it connected to midnight, or not?" Dess pressed the window-shield wiper button. The 'snowflakes' were pretty hard to see through.

"I don't know…I don't think anyone I knew before even knows I'm here." Melissa squinted thoughtfully. "It has to do with midnight. I was by myself, defenseless; an easy target." She shivered.

"It's okay. We won't leave you by yourself again."

Dess felt that she and Melissa should talk more often.

"Why's that?" Melissa asked.

Dess scowled out into the night she was trying to drive through.

"Totally ruined the moment, Melissa."

Melissa shrugged.

* * *

Rex stopped. The blue moon had risen, and the world was all kinds of variants of the color. The mountains rose before them, but the way was blocked by a giant scorpion.

Deron squeaked.

"Wow." Jonathan whistled. "I hope Dess brought the Golden Gate Bridge."

"What?" Aris looked at him from the front seat.

"Steel. Duh," Jonathan replied, not taking his eyes off the darkling.

"Is that the king?" Melissa asked warily.

"No, I doubt it," Dess answered. "I get the feeling that the king will be a jaguar, and be a lot bigger."

"Why do you say that?"

"I don't know…Intuition? Besides bugs, the jaguar darklings are their most powerful."

Melissa nodded at Dess' reasoning. "So we going to get out and fight our way in?"

"I assume so."

"Okay. Let's do it."

Dess pulled some gear off the backseat, like steel helmets and bars. She handed some of it to Melissa, and then took some herself.

"Are you sure this will be enough for everyone?" Melissa asked, looking down at the meager pile.

"I didn't account for Rex or Aris, but I guess Aris can take Jess' stuff. Rex is part darkling; maybe it will just let him through."

Melissa shivered. She could hear the frightened thoughts of her friends in the other car, but Rex's mind was empty.

"I hope so."

Dess got up and climbed into the back, pulling tons of duffel bags of steel up into the front.

"You named all this stuff?" asked Melissa, eyes wide.

"Eh. I cheated on some of it," Dess said, holding up a rod with Hypenated-18 engraved on it. Dess had probably used a paperclip or something, with the way the words were written.

Melissa nodded and picked up a weapon, then stuffed a few more in her pockets.

"Too bad we didn't have time to prepare. It could have made one heck of a barrier with this stuff." Dess held up a small sack. "Steel powder."

"Blind them with it," Melissa suggested.

* * *

The two groups got out at the same time, every kid not taking their eyes off the monster that blocked the road.

_If we can't defeat it, we'll have to run._ Melissa thought to everyone. Of course, this was probably impossible. The call would be too hard to resist.

They made their way toward the scorpion, moving ever so slowly. Deron shook so bad that the chains on his helmet rattled.

"Stop it," Jonathan hissed at him.

That just made him shake even more. Deron tried to stop, but he was just too afraid.

The scorpion looked over, bored.

Suddenly, it noticed Deron's helmet. It shone, even in the midnight moonlight, and kept winking light at the scorpion as Deron shook.

The scorpion scuttled toward them, drawn to the light. Nobody moved, except for Deron, who still shivered. The short legs echoed on the pavement as it neared.

It stopped, standing above them now. The head lowered, ever so slowly. Deron could see it's open maw, then it's beady eyes…

"AHHHHHHHHH!" Deron yelled as he jumped out of the way of the stinger. The size of an average-sized man, the stinger had been primed for attack the whole time. The scorpion's eyes followed Deron as he ran down the road, and it quickly pursued.

"Dess, powder!" Melissa yelled. She caught the bag in mid-air, and ran off after the scorpion.

"Well, the road's clear now." Rex pointed toward the mountains.

"Don't you think they may need our help?" Dess asked.

Rex's black eyes glowed. "The guard doesn't matter. It's the king that does."

"But Melissa matters!" Jonathan yelled. "And so does Deron. We're stronger w-"

"My team. My rules. Let's go." Rex strode off, with Aris close behind.

Dess nodded slowly, and reluctantly followed the two. Jonathan looked toward the distant battle that was taking place, but decided that, no matter how much of a jerk Rex was, he was right.

The king was what mattered.


	15. Chapter 15

The mountains were barren and blue and dark

The mountains were barren and blue and dark. They reminded Jonathan of a horror film he'd watched once, about a ski lodge. He held a chain made of nice new steel. It glittered blue in the moonlight. Dess had some nice stuff.

Everyone else was also equipped with steel. Weapons, shields, helmets. They looked like Roman gladiators.

"Where do we go?" Aris asked.

"I was hoping it would come to us," Rex said quietly. "You know how darklings are."

"Evil…Scary…Cunning?" Jonathan interjected.

"Shush," Dess said. "I think I hear something."

"It'd be useful to have Deron with us," Aris said coldly. "We could use his talent."

"Yeah…" Jonathan dryly. Aris was like Melissa, just three times as bad.

BOOM!

Jonathan whipped his chain through the air, and all the others took defensive stances, waving their weapons like out-of-movie ninjas. Rex squinted into the mountains, trying to see the source of the noise. The group could still hear the reverberations in the air, and the rumbling in the ground.

"Come on," whispered Rex, loudly. He rushed forward, with Dess and Aris following in his wake. Jonathan didn't move, however. He could hear a faint whistling on the wind, and cocked his head to try and hear better.

He could almost believe he was hearing words…

"AHHHH!" Aris screamed from the direction she had run in. Sparks arched through the sky.

Jonathan raced off toward his friends, eager to come to the rescue.

* * *

Deron tripped over a rock, and landed flat on his face. He couldn't gather the courage to turn around and face his doom. He closed his eyes and clenched his hands.

"Argh!" Melissa swung around from the side and tossed a handful of silvery powder into the scorpion's eyes.

It screamed, and sparks flew from its face. It was disintegrating from the outside in.

"Wow. That's potent stuff." Melissa reached down to help Deron up. "Dude. You're alive. Get up."

"Oh." He stood shakily, and brushed off his shirt. "Thanks."

"Now let's go help the others. They don't have a chance without us."

* * *

Jonathan jumped into the air, screaming out a war cry. He brought down his chain on the King's head. It wasn't an exceptionally large panther, but a very smart one. This was the only shot Jonathan had had in the five minutes they'd already been fighting.

The others were busy with the thousands of darkling bugs that surrounded and protected the king. They were small and easy to kill, but the shear numbers would be enough to down a hundred midnighters.

"AH!" Jonathan doubled up, having been hit in the ribs by the King. The jaguar advanced on the boy, claws out.

"Leave off, monster!" Melissa used the rest of her steel powder blinding the king, and getting Jonathan out of the way.

"You might want to leave this for us, Flyboy," Melissa said, looking over Jonathan. He had a large scratch all the way from his right shoulder to his tailbone.

He fainted.

"Alright then, I think it's up to you and me, Deron." Melissa tapped her steel rod in her palm, and circled the panther. Deron shivered and pulled out his thumbtack gun Dess had given him.

It was like a staple gun, except it fired steel tacks.

Deron circled with Melissa, and finally worked up the nerve to fire.

STFOo!

"RAWR!" it growled, slashing at Deron.

"AHH!!" he screamed, shooting manically at its face, not really paying attention to where he was aiming.

"Have you noticed something weird?" Melissa shouted, whacking the king with assorted steel weapons.

"What?!" Deron screamed, trying to retreat, but only succeeding in falling to the ground.

"THE STEEL ISN'T HURTING IT!"

Deron yelled, rolling away as the jaguar pounced at the place he'd just occupied.

Rex's eyes were beads of black determination. "We can't let it beat us. Never. Use your skills, Midnighters!"

Does that sound lame to anyone else?

That thought flashed through Deron's head for about 2 nanoseconds. He was too busy using his brain's energy for extra speed to think. All his senses, not just his hearing, seemed heightened.

_Adrenaline._

Stepping into the shadows, Deron allowed himself a moment to breathe. The King seemed to turn to go attack Melissa.

This was the _king_. It was supposed to be smart…Why wouldn't it seize the chance to kill Deron?

Of course, the prey in question wasn't complaining.

The King growled. Melissa had her eyes closed. Was she…Talking to it? Or, a better question: What was she _saying_?

The jaguar suddenly sprang backwards, towards Deron. It hissed as it's claws swung down from above.

"Agh!" Deron fell to the ground, the king's claws deep in his chest. Breathing was…hard. Blood pumped, spilling blue all over the sand.

Everything was shaking. Slow. Sounds…were fading.

Aris was yelling, lashing out at the bug guardians. She screamed terribly, one last time, and then ran, her feet kicking up gray sand as she booked it out of the cave.

Deron's eyes were closing. But he saw Rex, standing there, laughing.

_Laughing_.

Melissa shrieked, running at her former friend with a steel spear. Tears were running down her face, mingling with the midnight 'snow'.

Rex turned, surprised.

But Melissa passed him. Racing toward the King.

Whose jaws hovered over Deron.

Whose eyes glowed evilly.

Melissa jumped onto the jaguar, shoving the spear into its back with all the power of a falling skyscraper.

The beast screamed. White light built up around the wound, exploding into Melissa's face. She flew backwards into Rex.

The jaguar turned, the spear sticking horribly out of it's back. It's tail flicked once, and a low, low growl rumbled through its throat. Deron's hand fell limply to his side, where he summoned up the will to pull a disk out of his pocket. It wasn't steel, but it was imprinted with many, many 13s.

Deron stood shakily, and cocked back his hand to throw. The King settled back, ready to pounce Deron's only friend he had left.

The disk spun out of Deron's hand, glowing with harsh white light as it gained speed. The King glanced backward, a grim smile on its face. It crashed into the King, shattering the monster into a thousand dark pieces.

The boy fell weakly to the ground.

Deron's eyes shut.

* * *

Melissa sniffed, wiping her nose with a black tissue. Dess put an arm around her.

Jonathan's lips were drawn into a frown. His black suit flapped in the wind. The mechanical spine that saved his life glowed eerily. The trio was somber as they stood over Deron's grave.

Dawn had broken as Melissa staggered out of that cave, almost a week earlier. Rex and Aris were both gone, and she was left by herself, the broken bodies of her friends all around her. She called 911, then collapsed.

The next week had been blurry. Jonathan was in the hospital, on the verge of death. Dess had been released after a day or two. But Deron…

"What do we say?" Melissa asked, her voice choked with tears. "He died so I could live."

"He was a good Midnighter," Dess said slowly. "We didn't know him too well, but he put an end to midnight forever."

Jonathan looked up into the sky. "I hate to break it to you guys, but midnight's not over. It never will be." His usual happy demeanor was taken over by a haunted, sunken version of himself.

Dess got a quizzical look on her face. "What are you talking about?"

Melissa looked up.

Blue snowflakes were falling slowly toward the ground.


End file.
